Spectacled Owl

Gallery: AvianPosted July 18, 20181,290 views5 comments

We had nice luck with owls during my Costa Rica tour earlier this year, seeing five different species. This one was sort of an accident. We ventured out to look for Black-and-white owls, often found along a stretch of country road near our home base, and instead, I spied this Spectacled owl flying into a tree. It was eventually joined by another, though I never got a good clean portrait of the two together, as they didn't hang out for long.

This also happens to be the first owl species I ever saw in the wild, and though I've seen them a few times since, this was by far the best photo op.

Canon 1DXII
Canon 600mm + 1.4x
ISO 400
1/80th
f/5.6
Tripod, flash, red eye removed in post

Max

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Jim Zablotny on July 18, 2018 at 10:47 PM

Hi Max,

I'm glad you captured this one. I missed this species during my Costa Rica trip. Post processing for the eyes look good and you were able to get lots of detail in those feathers. Well done........................Jim

Registered on January 17, 2004, 705 Posts, 3594 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on July 19, 2018 at 1:38 PM

I will ditto Jim's critique. Good job of getting the dark feathers to stand out against the dark BG.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Hans Overduin on July 20, 2018 at 2:53 AM

Great bird, wonderful on the techs, especially the head. Greetings, Hans

Registered on August 31, 2011, 491 Posts, 3807 Comments

Comment posted by Dennis Plank on July 20, 2018 at 10:51 PM

Nice job, Max. I wish it had chosen a smaller perch, but owl images are too rare to get really choosy.

Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments

Comment posted by Mike Ramy on July 30, 2018 at 11:04 AM

Hey Max,
That first encounter with an Owl in the wild is a special experience indeed and you took full advantage of the opportunity. I love the pose of the subject and you handled the red eye removal expertly. The colors and detail are excellent and the diagonal perch through the frame works very well. The flash on the bottom of the perch seems a bit hot from the flash on my monitor and draws my attention more than I would like. laugh

Registered on June 16, 2012, 567 Posts, 2809 Comments